Hey everybody,
Here’s my very spoiler- lite review of Christopher Nolan’s excellent film, Dunkirk. The only thing I get into that could be viewed as semi-spoilery is how the film is structured. But I don’t get into details, character fates, or any twists and turns. Give a listen below and/or subscribe on iTunes:
So, this week is the San Diego Comic-Con, which is always exciting because we get a look at all the cool new projects coming down the pipeline in film, television, comics, etc. We can usually look forward to new trailers for big movies and first looks at major projects in comics, TV, and film. There have already been a few cool panels that have shown some interesting trailers and other promotional material.
But the content Netflix has been promoting really caught my eye in particular. As we all know Netflix has become a powerhouse in television. They’ve basically become a new network with projects like Stranger Things, House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and all the other Marvel series’s. Those examples are just the tip of the iceberg, they have a few very strong animated series as well, like Guillermo Del Toro’s Trollhunters. Now it looks like they’re making a serious play for producing their own original movies. Just like their television series, these movies will be made available streaming immediately at their premiere date. The two that I thought looked really intriguing and have the potential to be very cool were “Bright” starring Will Smith and “Death Note” based on the popular Manga. Here are the trailers for both:
These are two very different projects, but they have serious talent attached to both. The production values certainly look on par with what’s put out by the major film studios. Personally, both of these movies look right up my alley. I don’t want to get into a lengthy analysis of these trailers, but I really like the idea behind “Bright”. Telling a gritty, modern day cop story, in a world where orcs, elves, and magic exist sounds cool to me. But if it’s executed poorly it could be terrible. It’s directed by David Ayer who is very hit or miss, but Max Landis who wrote the script is a excellent writer despite his reputation.
I don’t know nearly as much about “Death Note”. I’m not familiar with the source material, but the trailer was very interesting. I’m not sure what his name is, but I’ve seen the lead actor in a number of films and I’ve always really liked him. And GOOD GOD Willem Dafoe looks creepy as FUCK as that fucking death god creature.
Anyway, I thought these were both interesting projects to keep an eye on. Hopefully Netflix will turn out to be as successful at making films as they are at making television shows. The more cool content the better as far as I’m concerned. “Death Note” premieres on Netflix on 8/25 and “Bright” premieres on 12/22. I’m sure there will be more stuff coming out of Comic-Con that I’ll want comment on either here or on the podcast so keep a lookout for that. As always, thanks for reading!
-Paul
A lot people I know are sick of Spider-Man. Hell, I am a little too. The character just doesn’t resonate with me as he once did. I feel that the time in your life you enjoy Spider-Man as a character the most is in you formative high school/college years. Because we’ve all got a little bit of Peter Parker in us. He’s the super hero every man.
As a long time comic book fan I couldn’t help but be excited when he became part of the MCU. This is Marvel’s flagship character finally mixing it up with The Avengers. That’s the kind of shit dreams are made of. Then I saw Civil War and now they had my fucking attention. That was a hell of a reintroduction to the character. But still I couldn’t quite muster the excitement for this new film that I had for a movie like Spider-Man 2 (which is a masterpiece).
I’m happy to say that my lack of enthusiasm was completely unfounded, Spider-Man: Homecoming is fucking excellent. It’s probably the second best Spider-Man film after Spider-Man 2 and it’s definitely in the top tier of the MCU’s best movies.
There are a few key factors that make this films so successful: the cast and the brilliant decision to make it a little bit more of a high school movie than a superhero movie. I recognized a lot of the supporting cast in this movie from other films from a few years ago where they played children. So this is the rare high school movie with high school age actors in it. While the action is great, I found myself more invested in coming of age, high school comedy parts of the film. There are a few very good scenes where those worlds collide in unexpected ways. Also, the brooding of the earlier films is completely absent, replaced by a much lighter tone.
I’ve said for years that Marvel Studios’ biggest strength is it’s casting. Time and again they get actors that nail their parts. Even when I doubt them they always prove me wrong. It’s like the actors walked out of the pages of a comic book. Tom Holland is hands down the best Spider-Man we’ve had on screen. As so many others have said, he’s a kid! He’s the right fucking age for once. Not a 35 year old man trying to play a high school sophomore.
I thought a really interesting choice is how ineffective and sometimes even dangerous Spider-Man’s lack of experience makes him in this movie. This is a Spider-Man who does not have the superhero job figured out at all. But he wants to be an Avenger more than anything and that leads to some bad decision making on his part. However, the movie never makes him seem stupid. He’s just a very inexperienced kid with extraordinary abilities and a hard on to use them.
I’m very happy Marvel will have Tom Holland as Spidey around for good while. Hopefully they work something out with Sony to expand their current 5 picture deal. Meaning Sony still owns the film rights to the character and, including Civil War and Homecoming, the MCU can only use Spider-Man for 5 films total. We already know Spidey is in Avengers: Infinity War and the sequel to Homecoming which is kicking off Marvel’s “very different” Phase 4.
The other big stand out for me was Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes AKA The Vulture. Keaton is the fucking man. His Vulture is one scary mother fucker. He’s got goals and god help you if you get in his way. It certainly helps that his suit design is spectacular. He is without a doubt one of the best Marvel villains we’ve had on screen. His motivations are unique for this kind of film and though I didn’t want to actually see him kill Peter, I could sympathize with the guy to a degree.
As for Tony Stark I’d say we get just about the perfect amount of screen time. Not too much, not too little. He certainly doesn’t take over the movie. The film feels like a part of the MCU in the best way. The film uses the mythology of this film series to great advantage and nothing feels shoed in. There are some great Easter eggs that hardcore comic book fans like me will love. I’ve written in past articles that I’ve been frustrated by how much of this movie was spoiled by trailers and internet articles. So I wasn’t expecting how many genuine surprises there were for me in this film. There is an iconic, character defining scene from the early Stan Lee/Steve Ditko Spider-Man days that gave me chills to see brought to life.
The last thing I’ll say is this movie has my favorite final 10 seconds of any of the Marvel films so far. Narrowly beating out Captain America’s tragic, “I had a date…” from Captain America: The First Avenger.
I’ll talk in more detail with spoilers on my podcast, which I’ll probably have up Monday. I’ll give our listeners some time to see the movie, but I will make it very clear when we talk spoilers on the podcast so you can know when to skip over or stop listening until you’ve seen the film.
Anyway, this gets a huge recommendation from me. An absolute summer superhero blast! Get off your ass and see it this weekend!
Film Grade: A-
Thanks for reading everyone!
-Paul
I get it. I’m a big movie fan. I read all the articles, I listen to all the podcasts, I love film making. Especially genre film making. So I’m always interested in the next big thing coming down the road. If you’ve read this blog or listened to my podcast with any frequency, you know I love the age of geek friendly entertainment that we’re living in. What used to be confined to comic book stores and conventions has become main stream pop culture.
Since the birth of the internet there websites like Ain’t It Cool News led by people like Harry Knowles that, among others, created the modern template for movie websites, YouTube channels, and podcasts. Sadly, Harry Knowles has lost his way, but that’s another story.
In the late 90’s internet journalists were guys like you and me. Fans who wanted scoops, tidbits, and tastes about what was happening behind the scenes in Hollywood. Specifically genre filmmaking. Since these early days, we’ve lost respect for something important: Spoilers.
In the late 90’s and early 00’s, if an internet journalist somehow got access to the script for one of the new Star Wars films or a Superman movie in development, this was treated with reverence. The details weren’t immediately plastered all over the website. Spoiler warnings were EVERYWHERE. So if you didn’t want to know all the details of Tarantino’s new movie or a complete story breakdown for X-Men 2, you could opt out. You could still get the movie news of the day without getting entire films spoiled for you. You could choose how much you wanted to know about the big new movies coming out that you were looking forward to. (For the record, these are all real examples of info and scoops Ain’t It Cool News and it’s readers had access to back in the day)
In my opinion, Ain’t It Cool News isn’t what it once was. There are still great people who write for that site and there are often some great editorials and movie reviews. But they were pioneers once, they were the model on which the modern geek entertainment websites were built. But back in the day, right up to now, they always respected their readers’ choice to opt out of spoilers. Because, after all, why do they call them spoilers, because they fucking spoil things! Which is why I am so sick of getting unwittingly spoiled by lazy YouTubers and internet journalists.
I bring up the long history of internet journalism and their attempts to get behind the scene scoops because there used to be an etiquette in the industry. In the past year and a half, I’ve had at least a dozen major movie twists, surprises, or plot points ruined in the TITLES of YouTube or other Internet articles. In the FUCKING TITLES! How do you avoid that?
Just a few days ago I’m scrolling through Twitter and a major comic book movie website has tweeted a link to one of their new articles and right there, unmissable in the title, is a MAJOR spoiler for Spider-Man: Homecoming. What. The. FUCK?!!! I was pissed. This is unacceptable and like I said it isn’t the first time it’s happened.
Now, some of you may say by following these sites I’m opening myself up to the possibility of having something spoiled for me. But if I’m reading an article or browsing a spoiler-heavy website and there’s a spoiler, that’s on me. But I should not have to worry about YouTube videos, Tweets, and article titles dropping major spoilers on me without ANY chance to avoid them. Trailers give away so much of the goddamn movie already, I don’t need any other sources to spoil the surprises in my entertainment.
So, to all you YouTubers, Tweeters, and online journalists out there… LOCK YOUR FUCKING SHIT UP! Show some professionalism and have some respect for your audience.
As always thanks for reading… and be careful of those fucking spoilers out there!
-Paul
Hey everybody, here’s the latest episode of our podcast where we discuss the best and worst movies of the year so far. With special guest co-host Ryan McDonald!
Han Solo: A Star Wars story, the stand alone Han Solo origin movie that no one asked for has lost it’s directors, Christopher Lord & Phil Miller, the directing team that gave us The Lego Movie, 21 and 22 Jump Street, have left the film because of the classic bullshit Hollywood excuse “creative differences”. (Which in this case seems to mean they were fired).
When the term “creative differences” is used in Hollywood, it basically means some bad shit was going down. It’s blanket term used when things are going badly on a project, but they don’t want to make specific people look bad. So “creative differences” could mean anything from the directors constantly throwing their feces at crew members to the movie being a piece of hot garbage and the studio has to make a desperate attempt to salvage their massively expensive tent pole film. Kathleen Kennedy, the head of Lucasfilm was the one to make this call and this woman knows what she’s doing. She started her career working with Spielberg on Raiders of the Lost Ark and has since been part of many of the most successful films ever made.
But Lord and Miller did The Lego Movie with that stupid fucking song everyone loves!
(to the tune of “Everything Is Awesome”)
“EVERYTHING IS SHITTYYYYYYYY!
EVERYTHING BLOWS WHEN YOUR MOVIE SUCKS!”
However, on rare occasions, “creative differences” means “creative differences”. That means that there’s a creative aspect of the film, be it story, character, or something else that the film makers and studio disagree on, but won’t come to a middle ground about. Movie studios finance these projects and can get nervous when film makers do things creatively that they consider risky. At which point the film maker either quits or is fired by the studio. Then, with the world watching, studio tries to make gold out of diarrhea.
This case is especially bad because “Han Solo: A Star Wars Story” (or whatever the fuck they’re calling it) has been filming since February which mean a good chunk of this film has been shot. This type of thing usually happens before filming starts or at the very beginning. Even after a film is completed a movie studio may bring someone else in to the editing room to put the finishing touches on a movie they think needs work.
Now the studio needs to find a director that they think can right this metaphorical ship. Unfortunately, it’s pretty much a done deal that it’s gonna be Ron Howard.
I wrote a previous article for this site was basically praising Star Wars as my personal religion. I never thought I’d actively be rooting against a Star Wars film. But I fucking HATE Ron Howard as a film maker. I think he’s an overrated hack who has made some of my most loathed films. (I’d rather get one of my nuts torn off than have to sit through his fucking Grinch movie with Jim Carrey again)
Having said that, I’m torn by this news. On the one hand I love the Star Wars Universe with all my heart and I don’t want to see it take a step backward. On the other hand, I hated the whole idea of this movie. As soon as it was rumored to be one of the stand alone Star Wars movies.
I have strong feelings why I feel doing a Han Solo prequel movie in particular is a bad idea. But first I want to talk about some of the other parts of the Star Wars Universe that could have been better places to draw stories from than a …(sigh) Han Solo prequel movie.
When the stand alone Star Wars movies were announced I thought it was great storytelling opportunity. Star Wars has a massive mythology outside of the Skywalker family saga, even if they completely ignore the Expanded Universe content (Star Wars books, comics, video games , ect.).
But The Expanded Universe still has some excellent material to mine. The comics in particular are really special. They began to publish fantastic in continuity Star Wars comics, telling stories that took place between “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back”. Issue #6 of the flagship book “Star Wars”, written by Jason Aaron and drawn by John Cassaday, ends on a key scene that is incredibly important to the overall Saga (especially The Original Trilogy) that we never actually see in the films. It’s relatively simple scene that is a perfect mix of art and dialogue. Shortly after the destruction of the original Death Star, Vader hired Boba Fett to capture the pilot who destroyed the deadly space station. He couldn’t capture him, but he doesn’t come to Vader empty handed. Keep in mind, at this point Vader thinks his children died with his wife.Check it out:
That was an exceptionally well done sequence.
There’s so much more that this universe has to offer that most people haven’t seen. There’s the excellent Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels Animated series’. The Clone Wars chronicles the period between Episodes II & III. Currently Star Wars Rebels which is about to enter its final season in the fall, chronicles the rise of The Rebellion shortly before Episode IV. Both of these are phenomenal shows, don’t let the fact that they are animated turn you off. There are new characters that are just as compelling as some of the characters from the films and they also have the opportunity to further flesh out some of the relationships we see in the movies. Here’s an incredible scene from Rebels, we see the sad, beautiful, decades in the making final confrontation between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul:
Another great example of the larger Star Wars Universe is Grand Admiral Thrawn, a fan-favorite Imperial villain from Timothy Zahn’s series of novels. Now he’s been introduced as a major villain in Star Wars Rebels. There are plenty of in continuity books, TV shows, and comics that are cannon that could be used in films.
Which is my whole point! why the fuck would you limit yourself to a shitty Han Solo prequel (why the fuck do these Hollywood assholes think we love prequels?). As usual they make the most predictable, “safe” (on paper), bullshit decision possible and do a Han Solo prequel movie. It’s especially disappointing coming from somebody as intelligent as Kathleen Kennedy at head of Lucasfilm, who’s someone I’d normally have a lot of faith in. Now besides the shit show they currently dealing with behind the scenes, here’s why a Han Solo prequel film was a dog piss idea in the first place…
I’ve always felt one of the biggest reasons this project wouldn’t work in the same way other prequels do is the fact that we associate Han Solo with Harrison Ford so much. Batman, James Bond, these are characters that were adapted from other mediums. I think recasting Han Solo is more of a slap in the face to fans is because Harrison Ford created that character as we see him on screen. This wasn’t an interpretation of a property that already existed in another medium or had been played by a different actor in a different film. George Lucas is famous for not being an actor’s director; he doesn’t give actors a lot of nuanced notes on performance. It’s safe to say that in many ways Harrison Ford helped create the character of Han Solo. All of the little moments, ticks, and nuances that we love about Han Solo all come out of Harrison Ford. There’s no source material for whatever asshole they got to play young Han Solo to refer to. It’s all Harrison Ford. Which is why at best this would just be some kid doing a Harrison Ford impression. If that’s the case, what’s the fucking point of making the movie at all? This is why it shouldn’t be touched.
This is the kid playing Han Solo:
There’s another issues with doing a Han Solo prequel film that I haven’t heard anyone mention yet. Han Solo is an outlaw and a pirate (Like Jack Sparrow when he was still cool and not just creepy). Giving Han Solo a film that fills in all the blanks takes a bit of mystique away from the character. Some mystery for a roguish character like Han is part of his appeal.
There’s an old saying that audiences don’t really know what they want, even if they think they do. We may think we want to see Han meet Chewie and Lando and win the Millennium Falcon in a game of Sabbac, but sometimes things are better left to the imagination. (That’s right, I know the name of the fictional card game played in the Star Wars universe. Winner!)
Personally, I felt if they had to do a prequel movie starring a character that we already know it should be an Obi-Wan Kenobi movie. Ewan McGregor has said multiple times that he would love to play the character again. Tell a story that takes place between Episodes III and Episode IV. What was he up to on Tatooine for 20 years? Maybe he decided to break those pointless fucking celibacy vows the Jedi had for some reason? Maybe 50 years later he’s got a hot granddaughter running around the galaxy? Who knows? I swear I had this idea before the comics did, but in the main Star Wars comic written by Jason Aaron, every now and then Luke will read Obi-Wan’s Journal and we get a flashback to one on his adventures during his time on Tantooine. These issues are always fun and they show that Kenobi wasn’t just sweating his ass off in that fucking hut for 20 years.
They could tell a western style adventure with Obi-Wan trying to stay in hiding, but maybe he keeps seeing The Hutts or some other alien gangsters harassing simple moisture farmers around him. Finally, he’s reluctantly forced to do something about it. That’s just off the top of my head! I’d see the fuck out of that movie! Maybe he runs into another surviving Jedi, those guys are all running around the galaxy left and right. The Empire certainly didn’t get all of them. Also, we don’t have actor recasting issues like we have with Harrison Ford because Obi-Wan has already been played by multiple actors.
The positive side is that Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy know what they’re doing and I have more faith in them then the guys who did the fucking Lego Movie. I know I’m gonna get shit for this, but I absolutely fucking HATE the Lego movie trend. Fuck The Lego Movie. Fuck The Lego Batman Movie. Just…Fuck Off.
The Force Awakens was far from perfect but it was a great movie. I have a lot less love for Rogue One, but there is greatness in that film. The “Vader Scene” (you know what I’m talking about) was one of the best scenes in the saga. The new Expanded Universe is excellent. Star Wars Rebels is one of my favorite shows and occasionally manages to outdo the films in shear thrilling, emotional, spectacle.
At the end of the day, Star Wars, Lucasfilm, and Disney will be just fine. It does suck however to see a chink in their creative armor. Since Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney they just kept cranking out solid fucking content. They went about building their universe in a smart, fun, and well thought out way. They decided what would be cannon and what wouldn’t and went to work. Movies, TV shows, books, comic books. They haven’t made a misstep yet so this is their first major hiccup. But let’s be honest even if this is a total disaster in every way, shape, or form, this is not going to hurt the Star Wars brand in the long run.
Who knows? Maybe I’m wrong and the studio brought Ron Howard (UPDATE: They did. Ron Howard is officially directing Young Han Solo). I hope he crushes it. I hate most of his movies and think he’s a MASSIVELY overrated director, but I did love Cinderella Man. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see the color and consistency of the shit they spray all over the movie screen.
Also keep an eye out for the new episode of “The World’s Best Podcast with Paul & Tim” where Tim and I will be discussing the season 2 premiere of Preacher on AMC. It’s gonna be really fucking good…probably.
Thanks for reading!
– Paul
Here’s the first episode of our new podcast! This episode is all about the new Wonder Woman movie! Big spoilers in this one, so fair warning. Follow the link below to hear the episode. I hope you guys enjoy it.
Thanks
– Paul
SPOILER WARNING!!!! I DROP ONE HUGE ALIEN:COVENANT SPOILER IN THIS ARTICLE AND A FEW MINOR ONE, SO IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE, GO SEE IT AND THEN COME BACK AND READ THIS… OR IF YOU JUST DON’T GIVE A FUCK GO RIGHT AHEAD AND READ IT.
So I managed to go out and see Alien: Covenant over the weekend. Any of you who follow the site know that Alien: Covenant was one of my most anticipated films of the summer. I have a complex relationship with this franchise. Some of the films I love, some of them I loathe. But I think one of the greatest strengths of this universe, is it’s ability to spark debate among it’s fans. There are people who will defend Alien 3 to their dying breath despite its many controversial creative choices. Personally, I love Prometheus. I know that’s not a popular opinion, but I like sci-fi that tries to tackle the big questions in life. Even if the movie ultimately fails in the attempt. My point is that we all have our favorite Alien film or films and we love them regardless of what anyone else thinks.
I’ll warn you right off the bat; if you get frustrated watching people do really fucking stupid shit for the sake of moving the plot forward, this movie is going to drive you out of your goddamn mind. The crew of The Covenant could be some of the dumbest fucking people to ever grace the screen of a sci-fi film and I think that’s a pretty high bar. They make the crew of the Prometheus look like a bunch of Jack Reachers. “Hmm, we have a meticulously planned mission, years in the making, with thousands of lives on the line, you know what? Fuck it. Let’s forget about all that and investigate this creepy as fuck signal coming from a planet we’ve never heard of before, even though we’ve searched this sector for habitable planets many, many times and this is the first we’ve seen of this seemingly perfect world. That is awfully peculiar, but hell we’re explorers! Sure we’ve had a few casualties already, but if you’re gonna roll the dice anywhere, it should be in space.” I must have been shaking my head in sheer disbelief at the idiocy of these characters for the first 30 minutes of the movie.
I did ultimately enjoy Alien: Covenant. If you’re a fan of the franchise at all, I think it’s worth seeing. You may hate it, but you should eventually see it. Once again Michael Fassbender is incredible in dual roles as very different (or ARE they?) Synthetics, David and Walter (Not a spoiler at all if you saw Prometheus: David is a real prick.). Danny McBride is the Yaphet Kotto of the movie, which is fucking awesome. I’m a huge fan of McBride and you’d assume he’d be comic relief/cannon fodder here, which isn’t really the case. Even though I had my problems with it, I came out if the theater having had a good time.
Which brings me to the point of this article. My main gripe with the movie is one we see way too often in prequel films: explaining things that DON’T FUCKING NEED TO BE EXPLAINED! Perfect example, The Force from Star Wars. We don’t need a bunch of bullshit about fucking Midichlorians or whatever that allows people to commune with The Force. It’s The Force, that’s all the explanation we need. While we’re on this topic, you know what was on my mind while I was watching X-Men: Shitpocalypes? “Man, I just GOTTA know how Charles Xavier loses his hair.” Actually, that’s not true, I didn’t think that. NOBODY fucking thought that! Who. Fucking. Cares? (Ironically, I very, very much cared when they DIDN’T make Lex Luthor bald in Batman V Superman: Dawn of… WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T THEY JUST CALL IT World’s Finest? I don’t know why they’re different, but they are. Xavier with hair = OK, Lex Luthor with hair = Not OK)
Which brings me to the cardinal sin of Alien: Covenant: They definitively explain the origins of the Xenomorphs. When Prometheus was announced, one of the things I was most excited about was finding out more about The Space Jockey. I always felt like fans tended to forget that there was this whole other Alien species out there that the series never touched on enough. Of course, The Space Jockey ended up being one of The Engineers. For the most part the Engineers worked for me. If you hated them, I totally get it. Look at this fucking guy, ripping heads off. Not cool.
On the other hand, the one thing I absolutely did NOT want an answer to was the origin of the Xenomorphs. Ultimately the story that was set up in Prometheus led to Alien: Covenant and Alien: Covenant definitively gives that answer. I don’t hate the explaination in and of itself, I just hate that there’s an explanation at all. Nothing these writers come up with can compare to what we cook up in our own imaginations. The thing that kind of sucks is, when you give a definitive explanation to a pop cultural mystery, it ends the fan debate. Some of the most fun I’ve ever had hanging out with my friends was sitting around debating things like “Where did the Xenomorph come from?”
I understand why Hollywood does this shit, it’s marketing. But certain mysteries in pop culture should be sacrosanct. Like the origin of The Joker. You can tease, you can hint, but you can NEVER tell us who he really is (a rule Marvel should have stuck to with Wolverine). Unfortunately I have a feeling DC is being tempted to play this particular wild card and that would be a colossal mistake. I guess my point is, everyone loves a mystery and some of the great mysteries of pop culture should remain unanswered.
Thanks for reading everyone!
-Paul
Blu Ray Review: Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
Director: Sam Liu
Ever since Warner Bros. released their first direct to Blu-ray/ DVD feature length movie, Superman: Doomsday, an adaptation of the Death of Superman, I’ve loved DC’s direct to video animated films.
DC usually puts out three of them a year and they’re marketed to older fans who love DC animation but are looking for something with a little bit more edge. Let’s face it, as much as we all love the classic in DC animated shows they were ultimately targeted at kids. They had to comply with certain standards and practices. The violence couldn’t be too extreme, human deaths rarely took place and if they did it was off screen, and sexuality was completely absent (except for the slight innuendos the writers snuck in). Fortunately the writers on shows like Batman: The Animated Series were strong enough that they were still able to tell dark, thematically rich, adult stories that hold up even today. It makes the success of Batman: The Animated Series all the more impressive when you consider that the writers basically had one hand tied behind their back.
This is DC animation when the gloves come off. They’re either PG-13 or R-rated and they are geared towards adult comic book fans. They go back-and-forth between telling original stories and adapting classic storylines. The movies can be hit or miss, none are outright terrible . Almost all of them are watchable at the very least (especially if you a comic book fan). Some of their releases include All Star Superman, Batman/Superman: Public Enemies, and Green Lantern: First Flight (essentially Training Day with Green Lantern).
On occasion these movies can be spectacular. I consider a few of them to be some of my favorite comic book movies. For example, there’s the two part adaptation of The Dark Knight Returns which is damn close to being my favorite Batman movie. Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox is not only a phenomenal superhero movie, but I actually think it’s better than the source material it’s based on. Below the review, I’ve listed some of the best of their films, that are must sees for any self respecting comic book fan.
However, the movie I’m reviewing today is Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. First a little background, a few years ago DC animation made a decision to make two of the three movies they produce each year part of a shared animated universe. Much like what Marvel and DC are doing on the big screen in live action. So The Judas Contact is the latest in a line of shared universe films that began and continued with Justice League: War, Son of Batman, Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, Batman Vs. Robin, Batman: Bad Blood, and Justice League Vs. Teen Titans, and most recently Justice League Dark. Since this series of DC animated movies began, fans have been clamoring for an adaptation of Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. After all, this was a book that at one point in the 80s was that was the highest selling comic in the industry.
(*80’s Teen Titans line up)
As much as I enjoy and look forward to these DC animated films, once they changed over to this shared universe format, I’m sorry to say the quality of the films of really suffered. They haven’t knocked one out of the park in a while. Although Justice League Dark was a whole lot of fun.
So, how’s Teen Titans: The Judas Contract? Well, it’s… ok. If you’re somebody like me ,who looks forward to these films coming out, you’re probably going to find something to like in this movie. Because at points it can be very entertaining.
Let me give you a brief rundown of the story without getting into explicit spoilers: Here, the Teen Titans lineup includes Damian Wayne as Robin, Beast Boy, Terra, Raven, and Blue Beatle. As well as Starfire and Nightwing acting as team leaders and mentors. The Titan’s greatest enemy, Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke, has been hired by super creepy cult leader Brother Blood, to take out the Titans for reasons I won’t go into here because of spoilers. However, I’m sure it will come as no surprise to fans that involves some crazy, convoluted, nonsensical, comic book bullshit (don’t get me wrong, I love a good, crazy super villain plot that makes little to no sense ). Unbeknownst to the Titans, Slade has a mole inside the team that feeds him information, tactics, and weaknesses. With the goal of eventually helping Slade defeat The Titans and hand over them over to Brother Blood and his many devoted followers.
* {Just a quick side note here: who the fuck would follow join a cult led by somebody named Brother Blood?. There had to of been a shit load of warning signs that this guy was bad news. The human sacrifice probably should have been a giveaway. Clearly Brother Blood’s followers have made some very poor life decisions to get to this point)
So, i’m going to start with the positives about the film and then talk about the negative aspects after. First off, though this isn’t an exactly a glowing review of the movie, it certainly wasn’t awful. In fact, at certain points throughout the film, it was really fun. A lot of the dialogue and the character interactions worked pretty well. The fight choreography is great. In particular there’s one fight between Dick Grayson and Deathstroke in Dick’s apartment that was particularly well done. As always the animation is phenomenal especially on a Blu-ray (If you end up checking out any of the other DC animated movies, I highly recommend watching all of these movies on Blu-ray because they look absolutely gorgeous).
Now here’s where the movie went wrong. To some comic book readers, this is their The Dark Knight Returns. So a story like that needs to be treated with more gravity and impact than this did. What really made this story work in the comics is the team’s revelation that one of their own is a mole. It’s a gut punch when it happens because we’ve come to care about this character and the other Teen Titans over a long period of time. In the movie, we haven’t given been given enough time, even with the first movie, to have a strong emotional bond with these characters. The only exception really being Damian and Nightwing who’ve been in al the recent, DC animated Batman movies.
Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne are two the more interesting characters in the Batman comic books, but here they are both kind of bland. That’s a problem for the rest of the characters in this movie too. None of them really pop.
If you’re looking for a great animated Deathstroke, watch the Teen Titans animated series from the early 2000’s. I was never a huge fan of that show but Ron Perlman as Slade Wilson on that show kicked ass
One other thing I want to bring up about the film is a very fucked up subplot that is present in both the Judas Contract comic book and film. I’m not advocating for this at all , I just thought it was an interesting creative choice to take this particular subplot from the comics and put it into the movie. There are some mild spoiler so I’m going to mark it and if you want to scroll down to avoid the SPOILER go right ahead…
MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
OK so even with the spoiler warning I’m going to avoid getting too specific, but one of the super weird, fucked up aspects of the original Judas Contract storyline is that Deathstroke has a weird sexual relationship with the mole on the Titans. Just to put in a perspective how weird this is, Deathstroke is 50 if he is a day, and this character in particular can’t be more than 16 years old. It’s not as explicitly sexual as it was in the comic books, but I really respect the fact that they left this aspect in the movie. Again I am absolutely not advocating older man sleeping with underage girls, but It shows you how fucked up the character who betrays the Titans is. It sort of gives you a window into their psychology and why they do what they do.
END SPOILERS
So just like last year’s disappointing Batman: The Killing Joke, Teen Titans: The Judas Contract falls short of expectations. If you follow these animated movies and you like superhero animation in general, I would still recommend this movie, there’s a lot worse ways to spend the night watching a movie. But if this is your first time watching one of the direct to video DC animated movies, start with the ones I’ve listed below because there are a lot of great ones. I really hope that DC animation starts learning from these creative failures because a lot of these people who’ve worked on these less successful animated films have worked on some of the very best animated movies DC has to offer.
Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the director Sam Lui’s has been responsible for some of the less than stellar DC animated films. I don’t want to shit on the guys work. He’s done some great animation direction,on TV. Hell, I know I’m going to get some blowback on this one, but I even the think The Killing Joke, which Liu directed had it’s moments.
For a while there, DC had a run where they were cranking out some really great animated features. Material that really push the envelope and it’s a shame to see them keep putting out subpar material. Hopefully they’ll get themselves back on track soon.
Movie: 6.5
Special Features:
Sneak Peek at the Next DC Animated Movie “Batman & Harley Quinn: One of my favorite things about the DC animated movies is that the special features include a 10 or 15 minutes sneak peek at the next film they’re working on. It’s cool to see the rough anamatics and the casting process. Say what you want about these films, but the enthusiasm of the people working on them is infectious. I always find myself looking forward to the next DC Animated film even if their last few movies have been mediocre. “Batman & Harley Quinn” looks especially interesting because it’s written and produced by Bruce Timm (Who is of course the cocreator of the legendary Batman: The Animated Series) and the animation is in the style of the Batman: The animated Series (or if you’re going to get technical on me, it’s in the style of the relaunch they did when Batman: The Animated Series became The New Batman/Superman Adventures and they did character resigns… my God I need to get laid)
Titanic Minds: Reuniting Wolfman and Perez: Another cool aspect of the special features on these movies is they’ll do mini documentaries focusing on certain storylines, creators, and/or characters that are in the movie and then give interesting background information about the comics they’re based on. In this case, we get a profile on Marv Wolfman and Georgia Perez who were the superstar creative team that made Teen Titans the biggest book in the comics industry back in the 80s.
Villain Rising: Deathstroke: The second mini documentary is a profile of Deathstroke that goes into the characters history and creation. They take a look into the psychology of a character like Deathstroke, who considers himself honorable while at the same time commits unspeakable acts in the name of profit. It’s a solid profile of one of the best villains in DC comics, so if you’re a Deathstroke fan, you’ll enjoy this special feature.
Other Special Features: There are a few other of pointless and crappy special features. Like, for some reason there are sneak peaks at DC animated movies that came out at least five or six years ago and a gallery of animated stills from “The Judah’s Contract”. I’m gonna go ahead and say you can skip those.
Below is a list of the very best that the DC Animated movies have to offer. Some are available on Netflix or Amazon Prime and all are available on Blu Ray:
-Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Deluxe Edition (This was such a major project that DC released it as 2 separate films, parts 1&2, but the Deluxe Edition is the must watch version of this movie)
–Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
-Wonder Woman (Very underrated)
-Batman: Under The Red Hood
-Batman: Year One
Though not as good as the list above, here are a few more of the better DC Animated movies:
– Green Lantern: First Flight
– Justice League Dark
– Justice League War
Thanks for reading, guys!
– Paul
Star Wars is the closest thing I have to a religion. I know that might sound crazy to some people, but Star Wars is why I fell in love with movies. The Music, The Mythology, The Themes, The Characters. It makes me want to believe in something greater than myself. To aspire to be better. Star Wars speaks to the incredible power of storytelling and the very real effect it can have on our lives. I know I’m not alone. The Force is strong with many of you.
Today all the fuss is about the release of the first trailer for director Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi. So, to myself and all the other Star Wars “believers” out there, the first trailer for a new Saga film is a big deal. For you casual fans out there, the Saga films are the movies that have “Episode” in the title. They’re part of the generations long story of the Skywalker family that chronologically started with Episode I The Phantom Menace up to 2015’s Episode VII The Force Awakens. Separate from the Saga films are the “A Star Wars Story” films. Stand Alone movies that don’t necessarily have an effect on the larger Saga story, but take place in the Star Wars Universe. Like last December’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
First, why don’t you take a look at the trailer for Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi and I can give you my thoughts:
First of all, I don’t think ANYONE saw this coming! Holy Shit! WHAT A REVEAL!!!
OK, OK, Calm down. I’m only kidding… OR AM I???
All in all, this was a solid teaser and that’s what it was, a teaser. Anyone following this blog knows that I hate a trailer that gives the whole damn movie way (See: https://thebestdamnblogwithpaulwright.com/2017/04/06/spider-man-homecoming-the-lost-art-of-the-teaser-trailer/ ). I feel like this teaser’s mission was to intrigue and I think it did its job. This wasn’t one of the best first trailers a Star Wars movie has put out, as I pointed out in my aforementioned article, The Force Awakens had a masterful Ad campaign. But there was still a lot to like here. I really like how this looks like a Rian Johnson film. I noticed a few cinematography similarities to his previous films, which is good thing because he’s a phenomenal director. The music caught my attention as well. It seemed like a really cool blend of the classic musical ques and some of the better work John Williams did for The Force Awakens. I also liked seeing Rey putting some time in with her lightsaber training.( I could forgive it in Episode VII because it made sense story-wise, but I NEED me some EPIC lightsaber duels in The Last Jedi!)
So, there was lot of interesting imagery and dialogue in this trailer. And get ready because Paul has theory! (Probably not a very good theory but a theory nonetheless) Now, I haven’t gone back to The Force Awakens in the time since this trailer dropped, so there could be one line of dialogue that destroys my theories. But this is just for fun, so I’m just throwing some interesting potential ideas out there.
OK, here we go: The line everyone will be jumping on here, myself included, is Luke saying “I only know one truth, it’s time for The Jedi to end.” This line is interesting for a couple of reasons. Luke, more than any other Jedi, acknowledged the darkness within himself and made peace with it. Most of the Jedi from the Prequel Trilogy seemed to view emotion as something to be locked away, not to draw strength from as The Sith do. Burying ones emotions away doesn’t seem like a very healthy way for a group of warrior monks to live.
Much of the beliefs held by The Jedi Order before The Fall of the Republic and The Rise of The Empire seemed questionable at best. Like why the Hell did the Jedi have to be celibate? If I was a Force wielder and found out I couldn’t get laid for decades, I’d be all “Sign me up for the Dark Side please!” Some of the most successful and well-adjusted Jedi like Luke Skywalker and Kanan Jarrus from Star Wars: Rebels, seemed to view their relationship with The Force in more human and less black and white terms. One of the things about the Prequels that I think some people miss is that, it isn’t just the story of The Fall of Anakin Skywalker; it’s also the story of the Failure of the Jedi. They were judgmental and short sighted and their mistakes caught up with them.
It seemed like Luke understood this in the Original Trilogy and perhaps the knowledge he’s acquired in his time in exile has confirmed those ideas. We hear Luke ask Rey what she feels. She says “Light… Darkness… The Balance.” And Luke replies “It’s so much bigger.” What if Luke has learned that things aren’t as simple as The Light and The Dark Side? For the Universe to find balance in The Force perhaps the time of the Jedi must come to an end?
Now here’s my more “Out There” theory, what if Luke is being more specific when he says “It’s time for the Jedi to end.”? The Jedi have always been called The Jedi Knights, Kylo Ren is the leader of the order called The Knights of Ren. In The Force Awakens, we don’t learn much about them and we never hear them specifically identify as Sith. What if the Knights of Ren have become some perverted version of The Jedi Order? One which must be destroyed for there to be balance in The Force? It could certainly be a cool switch-a-roo, Luke and Rey acting as a noble version of The Sith battling a corrupt Jedi Order. I’m sure there are 100 holes in this theory that I’m missing and the next trailer will probably blow this theory to smithereens, but half of the fun of a new Star Wars flick is the crazy theories and speculation.
Regardless of how it turns out, I’m thrilled to have a new Star Wars film coming down the pipe! Please feel free to tell me I’m nuts in the comments below. (But go easy on me, I have a fragile ego)
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!
-Paul
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